- Reorganize Kitchen Efficiently
- What to Take Out of Your Kitchen
- Streamline Your Kitchen Organization
- How to Create Kitchen Work Zones
- Reorganize Your Kitchen Efficiently With Broad Categories
- Reorganize Your Kitchen With Like Items Together
- How to Reorganize the Kitchen Efficiently with Containers
- How To Reorganize Your Kitchen Counters
- Thinking Efficiently About Kitchen Organization
- The "After" Kitchen Tour
These are the best organization tips for the kitchen I’ve collected over the years to reorganize a kitchen efficiently. Streamline it with kitchen zones, counter organization, and moving unneeded items out so you can have an efficient kitchen.
Today we’re going to take a critical look at your kitchen and reorganize for efficiency.
Trust me, you will feel so much better.
Reorganize Kitchen Efficiently
When we moved over a decade ago, I took the most time planning and unpacking the kitchen.
I didn’t want to put something just “away” without purpose because I knew that even if it ended up being poorly thought out, I probably wouldn’t move it for years.
I made lists of categories that I knew would be coming out of the boxes before the boxes even came.
I made post-its and stuck them on cupboards and drawers, then mock-cooked to see what was quick to grab and what sent me running all over the kitchen.
I tried certain items in three or four different places before I finally let them rest permanently.
I think I have some pretty brilliant strategies for saving time and money in the kitchen. I love the way I’ve organized most of it, and I work pretty well in there most of the time.
I even worked with professional organizer Andrea Dekker from Simple Organized Living to help me when my counters were always a wreck. I needed some help (and more hours in the day wouldn’t hurt either)!
I took a quick ‘before’ video of my kitchen (that is absolutely embarrassing), and then Andrea gave me 3 things to do in the following week to improve my kitchen efficiency.
If you can’t view the video above, click HERE to see it on YouTube.
(Did you notice the roasted seeds on the counter? Yum-O. Here’s how to make pumpkin seeds in case you have some pie pumpkins or spaghetti squash around!)
What to Take Out of Your Kitchen
I’m no minimalist (except when it comes to minimalist shoes) but the less you have to shuffle around things the more you save time in the kitchen.
Instead of reorganizing things you never use, consider what you can purge.
Minimize: The Unused Kitchen Items
If you haven’t used something in over a year, consider selling or donating it.
Pretend you’re going on a trip to a beautiful condo on an island for a month.
What would you take with you? Consider putting those absolutely necessary things on your counter.
Then, look at everything that is left.
- Do you really need it?
- Is it worth storing?
- Is it worth the time it takes to shuffle things around it?
- If you do need it (just not urgently), where can you move it to make space for the more important things?
If you answered “no” or “not sure” to any of these questions, consider tucking these items away in another location and see if you miss them.
I had a George Foreman Grill I hadn’t used in years. I’m glad that Andrea suggested trying to sell it. I put it in my basement for a few months and then ended up donating it, and I don’t miss it!
When we moved – I pulled half my kitchen utensils…okay, maybe a fourth of them…to “stage” our tiny house to sell, and I never missed them. Many things hit the garage sale pile after that.
Move: The Lesser Used
If you use something less than once a month, get it out of your kitchen.
For example, wine glasses got booted from the kitchen to a corner cabinet in the dining room.
It has glass cabinet doors and housed all our other fancy drinkware, so the move really does make sense and opened up an entire shelf.
Ditch: The Toxic Kitchen Items
If it’s not made of healthy materials, take it out of your kitchen.
Here at Kitchen Stewardship®, we value being healthy in all areas, including our environment.
For that reason, work to minimize the following materials because of their dangers:
- Plastics
- Nonstick pans – these leach out endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can mess with your estrogen and other hormones. Opt for cast iron instead!
- Products with toxic chemicals – like antibacterial hand soap, bleach, and parabens (here’s what I use instead)
- Unhealthy & processed food – I also dumped a few bottles of sports drinks with artificial sweeteners that we had from baseball season treats and recycled the bottles. Usually, I have trouble “wasting” food, even if it’s not food and I know it.
- Expired foods
Prioritize healthy materials and reusable products. Read here for my safe cookware recommendations.
To summarize, I prioritize metal and glass.
My professional organizer joked that she’d never seen a whole shelf of glass jars. She wanted me to move them out of the kitchen, but she doesn’t understand that they’re used DAILY.
They stayed. 🙂
Know thyself.
Meet my glass jar shelf (and adjacent cupboards, showing one challenge of my kitchen):
If you can’t see the video above, click HERE to view it on YouTube.
And my Lazy Susan, definitely a real food treasure trove (You can see how I use glass storage containers):
If you can’t see the video above, click HERE to view it on YouTube.
Here’s how contributing writer Bethany Wright organizes with glass in her tall cupboards to give you some more inspiration:
Sort Out Doubles
If you have duplicates consider what you don’t use.
Sometimes we end up with multiples of items that are never used at the same time.
A friend of mine shared that she had 7 cutting boards and never used more than 2 at a time!
One caveat there would be if you have kids who are helping cook – then it’s nice to have multiples. (We have lots of knives and cutting boards!)
RELATED: Organizing for a kid in the kitchen
Non-Cooking Things in the Kitchen?
If you don’t use it for cooking, ask if it really belongs in the kitchen.
Lunchboxes are the first thing I moved – all lunchboxes and clean water bottles now are in a bottom drawer just barely outside the kitchen.
If you don’t use it while cooking dinner, you might be able to move it!
Streamline Your Kitchen Organization
Right after WWII in the 1940s, there was a big push to create kitchens with the famous “kitchen work triangle.”
The idea is that the stove, fridge, and sink all need to be in a triangular shape from each other – and that “no leg of the triangle should be less than 4 feet or more than 9 feet.”
There are all sorts of other fun “rules,” too, and you can check them out on Wikipedia.
So if you find yourself in the position of redesigning a kitchen from scratch, you’ll probably want to visit these triangular-kitchen principles.
But I’m not here to help you reorganize your kitchen someday. I want to help your kitchen TODAY!
Grab a piece of paper and think through all the tasks you do in the kitchen. Make the tasks as broad or as narrow as you want.
(You may be surprised that some tasks, like sorting mail, have nothing to do with cooking. Don’t forget them, though!)
As you go through your tasks, see if you can visualize them as different zones in your kitchen.
How to Create Kitchen Work Zones
Here’s the list from contributing writer Bethany Wright:
- cleaning zone (sink, dishwasher, dish rack, a place for dirty dishes)
- cooking zone (stove, toaster oven)
- food storage zone (fridge, pantry if it’s in your kitchen)
- preparation zone (for chopping, mixing, measuring)
- blender zone
- planning zone (organization, calendar inputting, mail sorting, menu planning, etc.)
Here is a video of me explaining my baking prep zone. Don’t mind me organizing on accident while trying to do part of my “kitchen tour” video.
If you can’t see the video, click HERE to view on YouTube.
Analyze your actual kitchen in its current state with these tasks.
- Have you allowed yourself enough space for these tasks?
- Is everything you need for a specific task in the same zone?
- Are your mixing bowls close to where you do your prep work… or are they just stashed in a random cabinet because that’s where you put them five years ago?
- Do you have tools for baking in three different places in your kitchen, forcing you to walk in circles? Or is everything in one spot?
Reorganize Your Kitchen Efficiently With Broad Categories
Professional organizer Andrea says she always, without question, organizes everything by general category.
All food storage containers, for example, should go in one place, whether they’re large or small, glass or plastic. If you don’t have enough room for all of them, either find a new place where everything can live in harmony or get rid of some.
For spatulas, tongs, whisks, and other things with handles, she had a huge 3-foot drawer installed in her kitchen just so she can has “utensils” all in one place (plus 9 other drawers that are making me jealous).
I had just finished proudly showing her how amazingly organized my FOUR drawers of “utensils” were:
- baking supplies
- cooking supplies
- serving utensils and misc.
- knives and other cutting board tools
I even have silverware in two different places in the kitchen.
One example of “my way” are these two cupboards, affectionately called the “Breakfast Cupboard” and the “Kids’ Cupboard.”
If you can’t see the video above, click HERE to view it on YouTube.
Andrea noticed, “You have nuts in, like, 3 places,” after she’d been in my kitchen, like, 3 minutes.
For real.
I had not thought of that!
There were nuts in the snacks area, nuts in the kids’ cupboard, nuts with the power ball supplies…the dried fruit was just as bad.
Now I totally reorganized so that all the dried fruit and nuts are in one place for making trail mix and snacking, and then the “back-up” dried fruit and nuts are in one place that is not as accessible. Then there’s some single-serve dried fruit in the snacks tub and just a little, just the dates, in the power ball/smoothie/baking area.
At first, I was not sure if I like Andrea’s broad categories or mine, which are organized by smaller categories based on where and when they get used, but it’s interesting to get a new perspective.
I have found that my family often puts utensils in the wrong drawers, so I can see the appeal of the “one” place.
For sure, I recommend to put all of your spices in the same place!
Reorganize Your Kitchen With Like Items Together
The things that helped me decide to categorize by broad categories was the idea of putting like items together.
Organize items so other people can find them easily and so that the kitchen makes sense to someone just walking in.
“If my husband doesn’t know where something goes, and it’s not intrinsically obvious, maybe I need to rethink my system.” My husband could never remember where things went.
I may have overcomplicated my kitchen systems, focusing only on the one aspect of saving time/steps/breaths/seconds while cooking, and forgetting that if I have to put away a dozen assorted items when I enter the kitchen because hubby didn’t know where they belonged, I’ve already spent every second I’m going to save in the midst of the cooking frenzy.
Here’s a little tour of my kitchen drawers, pros, and cons included. I didn’t consolidate into just two drawers, but I ended up using broader categories and baskets:
If you can’t see the video above, click HERE to view it on YouTube.
How to Reorganize the Kitchen Efficiently with Containers
Professional organizer Susan Santoro recommends using containers you’d recycle instead of buying new ones to organize your drawers.
In drawers, use small baskets and boxes to separate the space and make it feel more organized. Again, if you don’t have enough room, maybe you have too much stuff.
It’s not about having the perfect organization tools or supplies.
You don’t have to go out and spend $100 on a zillion organizers.
Visit a good dollar store, cut the top off a clamshell container from berries, use a shoebox without a lid, collect baskets at garage sales.
Shoot, use all those plastic containers you’re not really using anymore to organize small things!
If you have deep or tall cupboards, you need to break them up into smaller areas.
- Deep: Organize with your shoeboxes or baskets at the front so you can pull the whole thing out to access the back.
- Tall: Use those coated wire half-shelf thingys to make two shelves where there was just one. A huge stack of stuff is always a recipe for disaster and messiness. (And sometimes avalanche.)
How To Reorganize Your Kitchen Counters
Scrutinize your counters.
Even after you’ve purged what you don’t use and put items into zones, consider what you’ve typically left on your counters and put them away. You don’t want unneeded items cluttering up your workspaces.
Take everything off your counter and ask these questions:
- What shouldn’t be there? Why is it there?
- If it’s because it doesn’t have a place to be, give it a place.
- If it’s because you want to use it soon, write it down.
- Maybe you have ferments and soaking things and containers of homemade goodies cluttering up your workspace. Is there anywhere else that can go? (Inside an unused microwave, for example.)
The counter is not “away.”
Nothing should belong on the counter.
Find a place for everything based either on your work zones, broad categories, or placing it with like items in bins.
Thinking Efficiently About Kitchen Organization
Going through these exercises made me realize my faulty thinking in the kitchen.
Sometimes we roll with things that don’t make any sense just because “they’ve always been that way.”
It can take a fresh set of eyes – or just a new perspective from yourself – to realize what doesn’t work.
I’m a smart gal, but I don’t always think smart.
For example, all the things I leave on my counter just so I get around to doing them, which I constantly have to move around just to function in the kitchen. Not so smart.
Do you “save time” by leaving things in your way so you don’t forget to use them?
Have you had the same item on your counter for more than a week because you plan to use it in a recipe, but you just haven’t gotten around to it yet?
If that sounds like you, you and I are in the same category,
Of course, it takes more seconds, in the long run, to leave something on the counter for two weeks rather than put it away and just make a note-to-self to use it.
You have to move the thing to wash underneath it, bump into it as you work, and perhaps, like me, the clutter begins to stress you out and try your patience.
Funny that I’m prone to sabotage myself like that, isn’t it?
The “After” Kitchen Tour
This video was intended to be one full-length kitchen tour, but we got a little interrupted by a bump on the head, so “part two” is a bit further down in the post, since it had to be split up anyway.
I think the kitchen is still a work in progress, but here’s a little tour:
If you can’t view the video above, click HERE to see it on YouTube.
Consider a “launchpad” for the week to collect things I’m going to use soon and have them in a cupboard.
Check out the video, which also includes the redone lazy Susan and some more counter-clutter excuses, even blaming other people for the mess!
If you can’t see the video above, click HERE to see it on YouTube.
Some of these systems are still in place, while others didn’t work for me.
I LOVE the baskets and boxes, especially for our lunch supplies.
We’ve added to our stash in that category over the years as more kids enter school, so we have new, bigger baskets, and they work great.
I love having lunch boxes and water bottles out of the main kitchen.
And I still love all my jars. 😉
One Andrea-recommendation that just didn’t work is the cookie sheet thing to organize my deeeeeep pantry cupboards. I found that items jostled around too much when I tried to remove the cookie sheet, or I didn’t have a place to set it, or other weird excuses.
I ditched that system after a year and probably don’t use that space perfectly, but I hope hope hope to have a real walk-in pantry if/when we get to finally complete our kitchen renovation! (COVID held it up this year, so sad.)
The best part about organizing, though, is that you can always improve.
I’m sure it’s time for me to take some scrutinizing looks again at how I’m using my space!
How about you?
Your quick challenge:
Go take a look in your kitchen and see if you can find ONE thing that should be moved somewhere else.
Hopefully, that will start some momentum for you to make some positive changes in your kitchen efficiency!
Ha! A separate blender zone?! I only have one prep zone, about 4 feet wide, between the stove and toaster oven…so that’s the prep/cooking/blender zone! On the other hand, I have a coffee/tea zone, which you apparently don’t. Different families have different priorities! Anyway, I really like the zone idea.
I’m jealous that you can keep your glass jars in the kitchen! We simply don’t have enough cabinets for that, so jars fill an entire shelf of the china cabinet in the dining room. Before putting away leftovers, I survey how many of which size jar I need, then go get an armload!
I am about to move, as we are buying our first home! With 6 kids in tow, I had already decided my first priority was to unpack and organize my kitchen. Your timing on this is perfect for me! I love some of the ideas and the thing about zones. I have always done zones, but not that way.
Something I do currently and might keep in the new place is I use storage with wheels for both my island prep counter and for my mobile cooking tower. I did this due to the big kitchen and very few shelves or counters. In the new place, those may be less useful. (Thankfully the tower is custom and can be repurposed or shortened.) I needed places to put pot lids, cooking utensils, knives, and towels. the pull out wires shelves made it easy to clean under it, store and see everything next to my stove in the award space between my stove and cabinets that face to the side of my stove. No idea what they were thinking when they blocked cabinets with a stove.
I will be downsizing my tools hopefully in the new place. I still want enough that if I have 2 to 5 kids cooking with me, we can all have tools, but I want some realism too. We have extras due to buying when we could not find them for a few weeks. They were later found behind heavy sideboard items we only move once a year for Spring cleaning. I hope to move some of the extras into hope chests I have started for the 3 teens.
I see that you have/had 2 places for eating utensils. Currently, I have put all of those in a pretty wire picnic holder that normally would be used outside. It has a place for knives, spoons, forks, and napkins along the side. This makes table/Eli and returning after washing a breeze. It also makes both picnics in the back yard or getting a clean utensil when little fingers drop a spoon or fork easy.
Congratulations Susan! Starting fresh organizing a new kitchen sounds like fun! My mom has some wheeled shelves for extra kitchen storage as well, she uses one for baking supplies and it’s so handy to wheel it out right next to you while you’re working.
I reorg’d my kitchen with my mom last October – see I was already channeling Kitchen Stewardship and didn’t even know it! Ended up donating 3 large boxes of missing lid plastic containers and ‘extra’s, apparently I had FOUR garlic presses – THREE manual can openers and sorry I can’t think of a two or a one thing to finish off the song 🙂
She came up with a great idea for my dishcloths and potholders. We bought a bunch of command hooks and put them up on a blank wall next to my pantry, which also happens to be right next to the oven which is next to the cooktop so it’s really handy to grab a potholder from there. I also put a hook over by my sink and keep a clean dishcloth there for drying dishes/wiping counters. The only tricky part is when it gets dirty sometimes I have to run accross the kitchen to grab a clean if I forget to switch it out right away.
I bought a bunch of these at Ikea a couple years ago for spices.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80102919/
Then I took my handy dandy labeler and labeled all the containers and dumped my penzey’s spices in there – haven’t used them for baking spices yet though those are in a cupoard over the ‘prep’ area. Only downside is you loose the ‘sprinkle’ factor – but I keep a couple of empty penzy’s containers and just dump some in there when i want to ‘sprinkle’ or more likely just get a pinch with my fingers.
I keep them on the side of my refirgerator since they are magnetic – not real convenient to cooking prep area – but i usually grab the container before I start cooking.
I love your kitchen because it is so much like mine. I have finally gotten most of the appliances off the counters. Unfortunately I can’t deal with the produce at all. I bought tiered baskets for the produce and that helps but it still loves to find residence on the counters. Can’t wait to hear the next steps.
Super helpful! And inspiring. I need to clean up my kitchen!!
Hi! I just wanted to say as far as “thinking outside the box goes” – something that MOST PEOPLE DO I think (judging from my personal experience with friends, family, and myself at times) is keep their cleaning supplies and trash bags under their kitchen sinks. This is the way my parents always (and still do) did it so I started out doing it that way. Now, I keep things I need near the sink in there (your salad spinner might work there! other houses it’s been the tupperware so I can put leftovers into it and then put the dishes into the sink for washing, another idea might be keeping kitchen towels under there or maybe things not used often at all like water bottles and go-cups) and keep the cleaning supplies in the garage. The only cleaning stuff I keep under the kitchen sink is the dishwasher detergent if the dw is next to the sink, and the handwashing dishes soap (the big container, since the smaller dispenser is always out on the sink.) Just an idea! 🙂
I can’t wait to see what Andrea does for you. I love her blog too 🙂
I don’t remember her name or where you can find her work, but I read an article once by an organizer who said, to paraphrase, ‘there are only two types of people: the kind that wants everything out of sight and the kind that leaves everything out.” The gist of her organizing philosophy was that there are people who put things away in drawers and cupboards in an organized fashion and people who put things away in drawers and cupboards haphazardly and the same is true for the people who leave everything out and visible: some put it in designated places, but still in their line of sight, others let everything lay where it falls.
I’m not passing judgment by any means, but I think it’s obvious from your video and the things you said (you repeatedly mention leaving things out so that you wont forget to use them) which kind of person you are. We’re kind of on opposite ends of this spectrum, I’m the kind that puts EVERYTHING away, out of sight. Still, I will be extremely interested to follow this series.
Thanks for sharing! And good luck!
I love the quote “the teapot, because it used to be on the stove and I moved it”–that’s exactly how my brain works! 🙂 And I also leave things out on the counter because of the “out of sight, out of mind” principle. Thanks for sharing, and I can’t wait to see Andrea’s tips!!
Sometimes it helps to divide the same category of things between two different places. (Did you already say this? I forget 🙂 ) I keep one (or two) potholders in the drawer by the stove, and the rest near the table. I can grab one easily when I need to remove a dish from the oven (and I rarely need more than one for that), and the others are close to the table for when I need to use them as trivets.
Also, one of the blessings of a small kitchen is that you never have to walk very far, even if you didn’t organize it the most efficient way! 🙂
Good luck with yours! Excited to follow along with your progress 🙂
Diana,
So funny, because that’s how I would think – same thing in two places – but Andrea specifically puts everything in very large categories, ALL together. Different ways our brains work, I think! 🙂 Katie
What?! 🙂 I’m sure you’re right–different systems for different brains.
Thank you for sharing your kitchen “before” video! I thought my kitchen was the only one that looked like that. You have made me feel normal. 🙂 But now, I need to get on the organization of mine as well!
Yay! I have magnets all over my floor too! I LOVE this video! It makes me feel not so bad. 🙂 I’m looking forward to her tips!
OH!! This is a great place for me to start reading your blog. I actually started following you last week, but this topic is one that I really need to read. I have a kitchen with VERY LITTLE cupboard space. The counters are always full of stuff. I have to get rid of the plastic tubs and lids that lunch meats come in. They are too nice to just throw away, but how many to I really need to keep? Can’t wait to see what Andrea tells you to do in your kitchen.
Paula, we have had a series of small kitchens, and one thing we’ve learned is to store some of the kitchen-related stuff in another room–or to create a “pantry” with shelves in an extra doorway, if there is one. Put your plastic tubs in a box and store it in another room, maybe under an end table or someplace like that.
That’s if you are USING the tubs for something. If you’re just keeping them because they SEEM useful, find someone who can use them. I eat a lot of yogurt that I buy in 1-quart plastic buckets, so we always have more of those than we can use. I take the extras to church and stash them in a kitchen cupboard there. Then, when we’ve had some kind of food event and people want to take home leftovers, they can put them in the yogurt buckets–nice tight storage containers that can be recycled instead of having to remember to bring them back to church!
Becca,
Awesome advice; I’ll have to include small kitchen notes in next week’s posts! 🙂 Katie
Paula, (and everyone else with those nice little tubs):
My sons have adopted the tubs to sort their small toys (Legos, marbles, etc). They can see inside and the tub is inexpensive, plus they stack well on the toy shelves!
I believe your “orange thing” is a crooked neck squash. Treat it like any other summer squash/zucchini.
I’m jealous. I need Andrea to visit my house. It’s overwhelming at the moment. Have fun!
Shaina,
Post visit, still overwhelmed… 😉
Thank you for deciphering my random veggie! Bet it shouldn’t have sat on the counter for 6 weeks, and I should have just googled an image…but that’s one of the reasons there’s so darn much stuff on the counter. TIME. I’ll cut it open soon!
🙂 Katie
I opened it…and it smells like a butternut and definitely needs its seeds scooped out, not sliced like a summer squash. What the…?
Then I’m going to guess it’s probably a Boston Marrow (it looked a bit more yellow in the video, but it had the nodules, right?). Those you can treat like pumpkin or butternut.
I am in Oklahoma. Local farmers grow them. They are called either Banana squash or Lunch Lady squash here. I cook mine like any other Fall or Winter squash. They are great roasted!
Looks very similar to mine! We are moving again in the next 2 months and I am determined not to let it happen again, but I’ve done that with every move and this is our 7th in 7 years (hopefully the last). Isn’t that “orange thing” a squash? It looks similar to some of the squashes we’ve gotten from a friend’s garden. I’d just cook it like I would summer squash.
Jennifer,
Good luck! I’m hoping this is the turning point for me, too.
I knew it was a squash, but I wasn’t sure if I should treat it like a hard squash and bake first or like a zuch and slice. It was just one of those things that got missed…
🙂 Katie
My confession: I’ve been meaning to move the spices for several years. They are on a top shelf, where I can’t really see what I’m grabbing while reaching up on tip-toe. Someday I’ll reorganize that cabinet, but right now leaf-raking takes priority….
Trash can is in utility room, on other side of closed door. It’s a pain, but picking up the debris after the dog and cats knocked it over and rummaged for goodies was a much bigger pain!
Sharon,
Spices have their own week, the last one! 😉
Isn’t that the truth, though – there’s always something pressing on the list other than organizing, even though the organizing would ultimately free up some time other places.
I have lots to think about now that Andrea has been here!
🙂 Katie
Sharon, we have the exact same problem with the dogs (it doesn’t matter that it has a lid, for some reason), and the hassle of taking the trash out every day means an under-the-sink trash would be ridiculous (not to mention that I don’t have that much space under there to begin with). So the trash can is in the far corner of the kitchen behind an old school baby gate.
BUT, do you know what really helps make this inefficient system efficient? Trash bowls! When I’m cooking, I have two bowls off to the side of the counter (out of the way but within reach). Compostables go in one and trash goes in the other. Then it’s just one trip over to the trash (and out to the compost bin) once I’m all done for the evening; I don’t have to constantly run back and forth across the room. Plus, it helps me actually compost things, since collecting the scraps is built right into my prep routine with no extra steps involved.
My spices are still across the kitchen, but that’s where I have room to lay them out in an organized and visible way…I try to just grab all the ones I’ll need for the recipe at the beginning so I just make one trip. My kitchen is small and the cabinetry awkwardly arranged, blah.